


Ghost

by orphan_account



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Other, part of an au, whoops someone dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-03-19
Packaged: 2018-03-18 16:46:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3576663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tape measurer can take you a long way</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost

With a small pat on the bed, Waddles jumped onto Mabel's bed and snuggled up to her. Mabel snuggled Waddles up to her and looked over to her brother Dipper, who been scribbling away since she last talked to him about the time machine tape measurer.  
  
"Aw come one Dipper tinkering with it can't be that bad," Dipper raised his head to look to his sister, who had Waddles cuddled up against her to ease her agitation. He looked back down to his notes than back to his sister.  
  
"If what we believe time to be a continuous variable than yeah, it could have some really bad consequences Mabel," He set the pad of paper down and placed his hat over his head to calm his throbbing eyes.  
  
"Consequences aren't just negative and we both know it! So what good can come out of this?" She eased herself forward towards her brother, a gleam of intrigue shinned in her brown eyes. Dipper removed his hat and looked to his sister. Her and words.  
  
"Technology could advance tenfold with this thing," he lifted up the tape measurer and twisting his wrist left and right to allow Mabel and him to examine the small contraption, " I mean it looks like nothing more than a stupid old tape measurer you can find at, well at any store" Mabel nodded her head, seeing as one of the first positives came out, there were more. She knew there were! "And the size right? It's super small for a high tech time machine, maybe we'll be able to make things less bulky and more compact in the future?"  
  
"Like a portable dj and karaoke station?" exclaimed Mabel happily. She had a lot of cool ideas that she would love to apply. Maybe she could make robotic sculptures? No wait she didn't want a wax sculpture incident all over again no siry.  
  
“No Mabel, no portable djs or karaoke stations,” he spoke with exasperation, “ people could have ease with dangerous operations that take much care and precision as well as smallness. It can make operations much easier too. It could revolutionize the domain of science further than what we have come now!”  
  
“Oh. Oh that makes sense. But still a portable dj and karaoke station would be pretty cool,” she edge a little closer to Dipper making a face that made him look at her in a deadpan. Internally he did snort at his sister’s demeanour.  
  
"Kids!"  
  
Mabel and Dipper both looked to the door. Looking at the time they hadn't realized they had stayed up the entire night, but they didn't feel one bit tired. Dipper placed the tape measurer upon his head and placed his hat over it. Not like anyone would go the extra mile to pull of his hat. Mabel rubbed her eyes and marched her way downstairs Waddles following her. Dipper catching up to her as they entered the kitchen and sat down to eat what Grunkle Stan had made.  
  
"I gotta ask you too to help me with the new attraction in the hall of mysteries, hey now don't give me that look, there's not much to do. All you got to do is help Soos bring the stuff and place it before opening time. See? Not hard!" the hall of mysteries was what they had decided to nickname the hall where all of the cheap attractions were in. Well it had always been the hall of mysteries.  
  
"What's the attraction this time? A unicorn made of mops? " Asked Dipper sarcastically.  
  
"No, but that's a good idea!" Grunkle Stan made a note to himself to add that next month. Maybe the kid wasn't that bad after all.  
  
"Than what is it Grunkle Stan?" Mabel sat across the table, her hands placed on the seat as she kicked her legs back and forth and looked at her uncle.  
  
"Nothing special, just some old ghost story from the 20s. Supposedly a boy died and his ghost still lingered or something like that." spoke Grunkle Stan off handily.  
  
"Wait wait, so it's an _actual mystery_ " spoke Dipper excited. For once something interesting in the mystery shack! Hopefully it wouldn't go as bad as that time that Mabel was in charge.  
  
"Yeah sure, let's go with that..." waved off Grunkle Stan as he moved back into the kitchen to make himself so coffee.  
  
"How exactly did boy die?" asked Mabel intrigued. Grunkle Stan looked back to her and waved his hands. He had no idea, all he knew is that the man didn't want what ever it was anymore and he was able to get it off of him for 'free'.  
  
"Look at the thing, there's probably a clue. Anyway I gotta go in later so I know what exactly I'm feeding those money sacks." Grunkle Stan left the room with a coffee and some toast in his hand, leaving Mabel and Dipper to their pancakes.  
  
Dipper felt himself giggly with agitation. An actually mystery within the shack of cheap money grabbing gags!  
  
"Mabel do you know what this means?" he couldn't help, but let the excitement in his voice be present. This was a first!  
  
"You get to go on in adventure?" she sounded a bit skeptical.  
  
"Bingo."  
  
  
The shack was surprisingly quiet in the morning. Wendy was behind the cash register texting her friends until the opening of the shack, Grunkle Stan hadn't been seen since breakfast this morning, and Soos was waiting for the with a small box.  
  
"Hey guys!" he waved to the twins, the box was seated on a pulley with a ragged dust ridden cover on top of it. It looked old and decrypt. Like it hadn't been taken care of since who knows how long.  
  
“Hey Soos" the twins replied back. Approaching the collie, Dipper took a closer look. It didn't look like anything exceptional, but looks could be deceiving. Very deceiving.  
  
"So what do you think is inside the box?" asked Soos as he punched the collie forward while the twins followed by his side. The hall of mysteries was nothing fancy. Mostly filled with shams that seemed to amaze the tourists that wandered into the shack. Lately it had begun to grow in popularity. So yeah, a lot more people lately.  
  
"Grunkle Stan said it was some legend about this boy who died in the 20s." Mabel explained to Soos, he nodded his head as they arrived to an empty spot in the show room.  An empty nameplate shone bright and dust shone bright underneath the spot light. Taking his hand off the pulley, Soos knelt down to open up the crate. Within its dusty contents was nothing more than an old gun, a piece of paper covered in blood chummily written 'I'm sorry' as well as an old decrypt object. Carved into the side was 'One will die by the hand of another'. The last thing in the box was a rusty locket that wouldn't budge open.  
  
Pondering at the items in question, they wondered how exactly we're they connected to the death of the young boy.  
  
A note was stuck at the bottom of the box. Old yellow paper that smelled like that of old books. Written on it was what seemed to enlighten some of there answers.  
  
'After shooting down the boy, the body disappeared. Never to be found. The case was closed and the men were put into jail. The killers never could identify the boy, so no family had been able to be contacted for condolences. The killers had said there had been another person, but they had left as soon as the boy passed. The third person was most likely responsible for the disappearance of the body. The case was considered finished, but as well as cold seeing as the body and third person were never found.'  
  
Inspecting the note, there didn't seem to be anything fishy about it. It just looked like some information note. Flipping it over was written something that made his dreams crash: nothing more than props from some theatre troupe.  
  
Dipper felt his happiness go down like a popped balloon.  
  
" I knew it was too good to be true…" mumbled out Dipper as he sat himself down next to the exhibit. Soos placed the material on the small pedestal.  
  
"Aw come on Dipper! Maybe there is an actual murder mystery like that in gravity falls!" exclaimed Mabel to help cheer up her brother. He still seemed down.  
  
He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. He shouldn't have.  
  
"C'mon little man, maybe you and Mabel can find something like it at the library or something. They probably have old newspapers from a whole bunch of years ago!" he tried to help brighten him up just like Mabel had done. He looked up at the two and smiled a little.  
  
"Thanks guys."  
  
"No problem!" shared the two at the same time.  
  
Dipper rose from his seat on the floor and grabbed his sister's hand. Running off into the shop and away from the hall of mysteries.  
  
"C'mon Mabel the library is probably open by now. Oh and thanks Soos!" they two exited the shop as the front door closed with chime.  
  
Wendy having heard the exchange between the three only nodded with a smile to Soos when Grunkle Stan walked in.  
  
"What's with all the commotion?" he scratched his head as he looked around confused. No one seemed to be in the shack apart from his two employees.  
  
"Just some bird that smacked into the window," explained Wendy as she pointed to the window right behind her. Stan raised an eyebrow before telling the two to open up the shack in about ten minutes. He would be in the hall of mysteries for now.  
  
Wendy and Soos looked to each other and laughed before moving onto what they would be doing for the rest of the day.  
  
  
  
Mabel and Dipper sat within the confines of the library in the far back. Newspapers didn't leave onto much to a similar case just like the theatre troupe had made for what seemed to be their play.  
  
What Dipper found from the newspapers were mostly Amber alerts, all resolved by either a body found, the boy found alive, or being closed as the child could not be found. A few murders, but none with a disappearing body like the one in the play. Maybe a crime like that was nothing more than fiction? A tale told to scare kids. Even within Gravity falls there were some things false, but they ended up being true within another form. Usually.  
  
Mabel had taken to making origami with the newer newspapers that were in abundance. She looked over to Dipper who sighed and placed the older newspapers down on the table got out his seat with the mumble of this makes no sense.  
  
"What is it?" she looked over to the newspaper, but saw nothing more than  'possible gang fight' the paper was charred by fire. Who would burn a newspaper? She looked over to Dipper who was trying to reach one of the books on the higher shelves. Getting up, she picked her brother up on her shoulders who gave a startled cry as he was boosted up.  
  
"Thanks" he smiled down to her as he grabbed the book he wanted.  
  
"No problemo!" she beamed back happily.  
  
Sitting him down he went back to his seat at the table and started flipping through the book. It seemed to be events and news reports of gang activity over the years. Dipper furrowed his eyebrows. Mabel looked back to him curiously.  
  
"That's weird," he mumbled to himself as he pulled out another newspaper and compared it to what he saw within the book.  
  
"What's weird?" Mabel asked as she walked over. Looking at the book and the newspaper and the book comparison, she noted both the pictures were the same, but the text supplied was slightly different. One was written in smeared handwriting 'Cover up: Society of the blind eye interference; unclear events'. A little farther underneath was written 'Body never found, witness testimonies all absurd'.  
  
"Hey look," Mabel pointed to what seemed to be a date. Pulling off her brother's hat she took the tape measurer from her brother who made a cry of 'hey!'. She placed the two side by side. "They have the exact same date in them! 1924!" She handed the tape measurer back to Dipper who looked at the engraving in awn. Why exactly would that be there?  
  
"But why would the tape measurer have that engraved into it...?" pondered Dipper as he placed it on the table. Maybe the agent who had lost it was supposed to go back to that time and stop a time anomaly that had happened?  
  
"Maybe something important happens there? I mean it's written 'stop 07/24' ha stop 24/7" Mabel giggled to herself as Dipper took the tape measurer and inspected it closely. Passing his hand over the engraving he thought it over. Was 07 the day or the month? Most likely the month because wouldn't be hard to place just a date and a year? Well 12 months within a year could be easier than finding one date within a month of 31 days. Okay maybe it was easier for the date instead of the month.  
  
"Wonder what exactly they want to stop in July 1924?" pondered Dipper to himself.  
  
"We can find out ourselves!" exclaimed Mabel as she took hold of the time machine and pulled on the cord to the date and time was needed.  
  
"No, Mabel don't!" exclaimed Dipper as he tried pulling away, but it was too late. Mabel had let go as he pulled back and they soon vanished leaving the newspapers sprawled across the table and that are deserted.  
  
  
Shaking his head he felt a heavy weight on top of his body. Looking up he noticed Mabel was sprawled on him slightly dazed from the fall. Pushing her off gently he got himself up and helped her up after trying to stabilize her dizzy steps.  
  
"You alright?" he asked her as she patted herself down to make sure she was alright.  
  
She nodded. " Yeah just fine- Hey look!" she pointed up to a billboard at the top of the building. It was some weird ad about cleaning materials and stuff. Looking around they noticed it didn't look anything like Gravity falls. More like one of the cities they had seen. Maybe the city they lived in? One thing was for sure. It was August and they were in the 1920s.  
  
"Maybe we should find a shop ask exactly where we are." spoke Dipper as he took his sister's hand and stayed aware as they walked the streets of the fairly familiar sights.  
  
  
Staring at the two twins walking down the street, he smiled to himself internally. Maybe, just maybe he could use this to his advantage. Just find the right time and bam! Bye-bye pine twins _forever and always_.  
  
  
Entering a small pastry store that seemed to be the only one open, they sat down at the table and looked at the newspapers. It seemed to be the 12th of July. A man came up asking them what exactly they would be ordering. Mabel asked for some cookies and a hot chocolate while Dipper asked for a sandwich. Before the man left he asked him exactly what city they were in.  
  
"Ya lost kid? You're in Starbay!" Mabel and Dipper both looked to each other. Starbay was one of the larger cities in Oregon, not there own city, but not so far off from where they lived. How exactly did they get in Starbay?  
  
"Thanks," Dipper said as he took out some money and paid the man the amount. Quite low to there times considering they were in the 20's and the Crash would be in about 5 years time.  
  
The man gave them a look before wandering in the back of the shop and preparing their food. Starbay? How could a time machine also make them change locations? Granted they were still in Oregon and only about possibly 30-45 minutes out maybe an hour from Gravity falls, but still. Last time they had used it they had stayed in the same location. This was quite weird.  
  
  
They ate their food with strange looks from the people within the shop, two kids being able to pay for food was quite out of the norm, but it didn’t bother Mabel or Dipper much, all they had to do was move. Move very fast. Bad things could happen to them if they stay to long. When Mabel finished the last of her cookie, Dipper grabbed her hand and they quickly jumped onto the street.  
  
In the past, the journal wouldn't be of much use to both of them so Dipper stored it away carefully as to not get stolen or even more so destroyed by passerby's or so on and so forth.  
  
Mabel looked around in awn. The aesthetic of the twenties was beautiful. She had a thing for pretty dresses, and the music was a lot of fun to dance too. It made her remember of the times Dipper and she used to dance together. Maybe they could? Looking over to her brother, she smiled a large grin.  
  
"Hey Dipper?"  
  
"Yes Mabel," Dipper replied off handily as he looked around the area. He was trying to see if there was a location that was familiar to his mind. Past Starbay shouldn't be as different as its modern counterpart.  
  
"Okie dokie it's decided!" She grinned happily as she tugged on her unknowing brother's hand. He gave a surprised shout as he was tugged along the sidewalk, stared at by many pedestrians.  
  
"weird kids" a lot of them muttered as the twins ran by.  
  
"Hey Mabel come on!" he wanted her to slow down and pull at his shoulder less. It actually hurt. Mabel grinned as they stopped in front of a large plaza where people came and went with clothes to the nines. It was a sight for sore eyes, considering the clothing for this era could be seen miles away. Really hard to miss.  
  
"Mabel I know what you're thinking, _no_." Dipper said flat out.  
  
"but Dipper, it's a one in a lifetime opportunity and it would be great practice!" she exclaimed enthusiastically. She really, really, really wanted to know what it was like in the 20s. Great practice opportunity they would never ever have again. She just couldn't let it pass. Heck she would even get ideas of what to make when they would dress up in this era or did anything even related to it. The was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  
  
Dipper looked a Mabel, but she had been giving him the puppy dog look, and even if he had a somewhat defence to that look (tinted sunglasses) he, for one, did not have them and was also curious about the aesthetic of this era. What  could he say? There is a lot he would do for aesthetic purposes. Sighing and nodding his head, Mabel squealed happily and grabbed her brother's hand, gushing about how this would be so much fun and great practice once the beginning of the school year came and normal after school and weekend activities resumed.  
  
They ran off in the town, not sure exactly where to go, but Mabel had a vague idea of what to do. First, find clothes. Surprisingly easier than first thought. They looked dressed to the nines and not out of place for the time period. Mabel felt very proud of herself.  
  
They soon found themselves fleeting dusk and wandering the streets. People were coming out and they saw many people, only a few years older than them, running discreetly to small areas. The twins looked to one another. Would they find the place following them? Most likely.  
  
Discreetly following the teens who were fleeting the night, they decided to join in on the fun. How bad could it be?  
  
They soon found themselves also having to fleet a thunderstorm that was brewing in the distances. They would find shelter in the dance areas.  
  
The hall was blasting with music and Mabel had never felt more giggly. She turned herself to Dipper and jumped on the balls of her feet, grabbing his hands and shaking them up and down.  
  
"Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!!!! They're dancing **_Charleston!!_** " She exclaimed happily as she turned her head in awn back to the dance floor. She decided to run onto it and joined into the crowd of dances. Dipper called after and only groaned and grabbed his right arm nervously. He felt himself pushed onto the dance floor.  
  
"Hey!" he cried out indignantly and found himself incised between dancers. He felt nervousness creep on him and soon spotted Mabel enjoying herself. If she could do it, so could he. Taking a deep breath, he calmed his nerves and started to dance.  
  
Both had lost track of time, but by the time realization struck them, and they had calmed down from all the excitement, many people had already left. Mabel rubbed her head and leaned herself on her brother.  
  
"You know Dip, I had a lot of fun tonight. I'm actually ally glad to call you my twin brother" she whispered to him exhausted. A warm smiled greeted her face as she yawned.  
  
"Me too Mabel…"  
  
The distant sounds of sirens could be heard in the distance as a kid ran in and told the remaining people to scramble, the cops were coming. A frenzy greeted them as people shuffled to find an exit to the hall.  The twins were both taken by the small current of people and found themselves lost in the building next door.  
  
They could hear the impending sirens and the hard plummeting of the rain outside. Maybe it would be best to stay here for the night. They had shelter and what from Mabel could see there seemed to be lanterns and sleeping bags. Exactly why? Only Dipper thought into it, but Mabel didn't question it and was merely grateful for this turn in fate.  
  
Dipper wandered deeper into the room seeing if they could find anything that could provide nourishment such as water or canned food, no such luck.  
  
"Stop moving kid" he could hear a distinct accent say to him as a metal clicking vibrated in the vicinity, "turn around slowly," spoke voice. He felt his throat was dry as he ball of fear rose within him. Was Mabel okay? Who was a man? Was he holding a gun to him. Oh god he was holding a gun. He could barely see Mabel being held by another man. He wasn't sure what they even wanted.  
  
Time travel _was a terrible idea_. His movement didn't even seem to be his own anymore, because they weren't they were basic survival skills of any human. Someone filled with desperation. He tried to resist, but the something went wrong.  
  
' _One will die by the hand of the other_ '.  He heard at the back of his mind.  
  
He trembled as the being took control of his hand. His hand trembled as he looked to his sister, his precious person, stood like a deer in the headlights. His right hand trembled as he took his left and tried to push his right down. It wouldn't budge.  
  
" ** _Mabel run_**!" it was too late. There was an eerie silence as Mabel's face teared up.  
  
" _ **Mabel!**_ " he cried out to himself. He ran to her and fell to his knees. The two men stood shocked. They decided to skedaddle, the kid was crazy and would end up killing them next.  
  
Dipper couldn't even look at his sister through teary eyes. What had happened? What had he done?  He couldn't stop crying. Mabel was gone and it was all his fault. _The only best friend he had ever had, gone with his own hands_.  
  
"Awn isn't this such a sob story, boo ho," he heard a mocking voice.  
  
" _ **Go away!**_ " he screamed. He was cradling her in his arms now. He didn't want to let go.  
  
"that's all I'm going to get? Really, just a go away? No ' _what are you doing here Bill!_ ' or ' _what do you want?_ ' just ' _go away_!'. I got to admit at least your emotions are in check, I'll give you that," Bill muttered on to himself, hoping to start a conversation with the boy.  
  
"I said leave!" he screamed. He wanted to be alone. He didn't want that horrible monster here now. Not ever again.  
  
"What if there was a way I could bring her back?" he stopped crying and looked at Bill with distrustful eyes.  
  
" _and why would I make a contract with you of all people? Why can't you just go away_?" he yelled. His emotions were taking over. He was angry, he was tired and he was mourning.  
  
"There's not catch, or nothing that really concern much, something quite invaluable in the scheme of everything. Really Pinetree I can be generous at times too!" the Dorito batted his eyes as if to show he cared, but it only looked like he had been blinking. Dipper gave it some thought. What if he could bring Mabel back? No catch? They could go home, they could pretend like all of this never happened. Ignorance seemed to be bliss. Yes it seemed too nice to be true.  
  
Bill had his hand outstretched waiting to see if the kid would make a deal. Maybe Dipper would regret this, but he didn't care. All he really wanted was Mabel back.  
  
He agreed with Bill's offer.  
  
“The deal's done kid! Thanks for everything!" he snapped his fingers and he disappeared with a giant flash of light, or what he suspected was fire. Considering a few of the clothes were set ablaze.  
  
He looked down to his sister and cried of joy when she started coughing. She blinked a bit, and slowly got up.  
  
"Mabel are you alright?" she blinked a few and her eyes widened.  
  
"I' m fine but-" she held a worried tone, but Dipper didn't care much for it. He was glad she was back. He leaned in to hug her and he passed right through her.  
  
He looked at his trembling hands and easily saw through the floor. Bill played him for a fool. What was invaluable in the grand scheme of things was his life. His own life was what was needed in exchange for bringing his sister back. He felt like such an idiot! He should of know better!  
  
"D-Dipper everything's fine alright, we're still together right?" she tried to cheer up the situation.  
  
" _Nothing is alright Mabel_! We're stuck in the 20s indefinitely, I ended up killing you and on top of all else I made a deal with Bill to bring you back,  which he used word play into getting me to agree with and now I'm a ghost! _**Does everything look okay to you?**_ " after realizing that he had lashed out on her, he quickly apologized. She tried to calm him as best as she could. It didn't have much affect. He stopped trembling, but his mind was still going 100 thoughts a minute.  
  
"it could be worse you know? I could have been left alone here without you?" she offered up. He slowly nodded his head to that. He wouldn't have wanted her to be alone instead. There was much worse to this situation. He was still dead in both situation, but at least his spirit still lived here.  
  
"Anyway what's that thing around your wrist, looks like a triangle" she pointed out. Dipper had just noticed it. Weird, it reminded him of the Egyptian pyramids… or Bill…  
  
He was brought out of his musing by loud sirens. Mabel was freaking out because it had been coming from her pocket. The time machine! It started to pulse loudly as it overheated and the light grew intensely.  
  
"Mabel turn it off!" Dipper exclaimed as the light grew brighter.  
  
"I can't!" she yelled distressed.  
  
  
Soon they were gone. Nothing left, but a note, an object and the gun.

**Author's Note:**

> Whoops there it is, this is actually part of a large au and I actually finished this!! Yay!!


End file.
